Latest / Everybody Loves Boobs: The Podcast / The Breasties, Motherhood, and Life After Cancer with Allie Brumel

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The Breasties, Motherhood, and Life After Cancer with Allie Brumel · Everybody Loves Boobs: The Podcast

• 0:00
  It's funny because when I first was diagnosed and like saw other breast cancer advocates or, just cancer advocates in general, I was like, that's not me. I know nothing about advocacy.
• 0:11
  I know nothing about like how a bill becomes a law besides like schoolhouse what they teach you in like third grade.
• 0:16
  I gonna say I'm just the bill Yeah, exactly. That's all I know.
• 0:20
  That's all I know.
• 0:21
  It's been pretty cool to see how like doesn't matter if all you know a schoolhouse rock you still can Yeah.
• 0:27
  make a difference there.
• 0:46
  Welcome to the Everybody Loves Boobs podcast.
• 0:48
  I'm your host, Christina, and I am so excited to be joined by Allie Brumel She is the COO and co-founder of The Breasties, a triple negative breast cancer survivor.
• 0:58
  She's a mama of two, I believe, and a mama to a chocolate lab Thank and an advocate extraordinaire.
• 1:04
  Ali, thank you so much for being here today.
• 1:06
  Thank you so much for having me, excited to be here.
• 1:09
  Yes, and we matched. This wasn't planned.
• 1:12
  We didn't know, but we sent messages to each other while we were getting dressed today.
• 1:16
  So, one thing I would love to talk to you about, just to get straight into it, is the age that you were diagnosed.
• 1:22
  I feel like growing up, when I heard of breast cancer, it was mainly in women who were way older than I was.
• 1:30
  And I was fascinated to learn that you were diagnosed at 27 Can you tell us about that? When you felt your lump, what was that like being at such a young age?
• 1:39
  Yeah, yeah. It's crazy thinking back to the time of diagnosis.
• 1:45
  It feels like such a blur, but it's all so vivid at the same time.
• 1:49
  I was getting ready for my wedding.
• 1:51
  My husband and I, we met in high school and we were finally getting married.
• 1:56
  12 years later after meeting. And as part of the wedding planning, just had all these things on my to-do list.
• 2:02
  And for some reason, the dentist was on there and I knew I was due for my annual OB appointment. So that was on there too.
• 2:10
  And I went to my OB. She told me I had dense breast tissue on a clinical breast exam, but told me I was healthy and good to go.
• 2:18
  And so I went on my way.
• 2:20
  Had so much on my mind related to the wedding and all the to-do's and then I was in the shower and felt a lump in my breast and it like stopped me in my tracks. But I said to myself, I'm sure it's fine. I was just at the doctor.
• 2:33
  I'm sure it's just like dense tissue.
• 2:35
  I was just there. Fast forward, got married and about a month or so later that lump definitely got bigger, I felt it and with my cycle it was more painful.
• 2:45
  So reluctantly I called that OB back and was just like, I have this lump I wanna come in and she's like, you were just here, you have no family history, I'm sure it's fine. And yeah, fast forward, spoiler alert, it wasn't fine, it was actually breast cancer.
• 2:59
  Yeah, I had turned 28 in that period of time and.
• 3:03
  I did not know you could get breast cancer in your 20s.
• 3:06
  I knew people who had breast cancer, but they were all much older than me, decades older than me. And I just felt like it was such a shock to the system because I didn't have a family history.
• 3:17
  I was like the healthiest I had ever been.
• 3:19
  I was young. I didn't know this could happen.
• 3:22
  So it was definitely an isolating experience and ~ you know, you're never expecting to get cancer.
• 3:28
  I'm sure it's a surprise no matter what age you are, but Yeah.
• 3:31
  It just felt like such shock to the system.
• 3:35
  Absolutely. And as you said, it was an isolating experience.
• 3:38
  I feel like you've talked about being diagnosed so young and how difficult it was to find people who really understood.
• 3:44
  And then you started finding people online who did get it.
• 3:48
  Can you take us through how those connections eventually became The Breasties or like what that led into?
• 3:54
  it's funny because while I was going through active treatment and preparing for surgery, I thought I was fine in terms of my mental health.
• 4:03
  I had an amazing support system around me.
• 4:05
  I was never alone at an appointment.
• 4:07
  I had a great medical team. Friends and family were with me throughout it, so I didn't think community is something I needed.
• 4:15
  However, I was looking for information.
• 4:17
  I was preparing for my bilateral mastectomy.
• 4:19
  I had just finished chemo and my plastic surgeon was showing me photos in the office of what my body could look like.
• 4:25
  But all of the photos were of 60 year old women.
• 4:28
  And I was like, that's not really, it's not really resonating. I can't really see, I can't imagine what this is gonna be like.
• 4:34
  So I turned to Google, which really didn't give me much.
• 4:38
  And then I was like, there has to be other 20 somethings going through this.
• 4:41
  Let me look on social media.
• 4:43
  I must have typed young breast cancer, or people getting mastectomy in their 20s.
• 4:48
  I don't know, back then I don't even know what the hashtag process was.
• 4:51
  But Anyway, turns out I found Paige, my co-founder, who sharing her story about her preventative mastectomy.
• 4:57
  And even though I was bald, she had hair, I was going through a diagnosis, she was acting preventatively, there was something so...
• 5:07
  I just felt so much relief in seeing, okay, there's somebody else that understands and is navigating something to me. And so we connected on social media and she introduced me to Bri who was also navigating her preventative journey and losing her mom to breast cancer when she was really young.
• 5:24
  And eventually she introduced me to Trish, who's also a survivor and so many other people in the New York area.
• 5:30
  And we all...
• 5:31
  we're looking for a support space that didn't exist at the time.
• 5:35
  Like we found so much relief and value in connecting with each other.
• 5:39
  And we're like, you know, there's so many of us, let's host like potluck dinners and like little workout classes and like maybe more people will come. And we started to do that and the response was amazing. It was back in the day, we were posting like, come to Allie's apartment, here's her address online.
• 5:53
  Yeah.
• 5:54
  And like 40 people would show up with like homemade brownies.
• 5:56
  Wow.
• 5:57
  And it was like so wholesome and so fun. And it's funny because looking back at that time, we would host these meetups and we were like shutting down bars and the waiters at the restaurant were like sweeping around us, like trying to get us out because we just wanted more time together.
• 6:11
  were connecting and just like really enjoying being with one another, asking questions and just, it was just so lovely.
• 6:17
  And so one of our team members was like, I have this family house in the Poconos.
• 6:21
  What if we like went away for the weekend?
• 6:23
  We could bring 20 people. And so we did just that.
• 6:26
  It was before we were a nonprofit.
• 6:27
  We were just trying to extend the spaces that we were creating and there was no roadmap to like turn it into like a nonprofit or a real like.
• 6:36
  business in any way. We just wanted to, you know, support the people that were there.
• 6:41
  And we shared about the weekend on social media and we came home to like hundreds of messages being like, when's the next retreat?
• 6:48
  How can I come? And it's funny because looking back, you know, we had a local ski resort donate ski tickets and like snowsuits and things like that. But like we who ran it, we split the grocery bill, we cooked dinner like it was very grassroots.
• 7:03
  We had air mattresses on the floor so 20 people could sleep there.
• 7:06
  It wasn't like this ritzy experience, but it was so much fun and so beautiful.
• 7:10
  And people didn't care. Like People just wanted to be a part of it.
• 7:13
  We looked at each other and were like, if we apply for a 501(c)(3), then we can get donations and we can host more of these, help more people. And so that's kind of how we became The Breasties official nonprofit.
• 7:25
  And the rest is history as they say.
• 7:27
  Absolutely. And how fun that The Breasties camp is in the Poconos.
• 7:31
  Yeah, it's crazy because Camp Breastie started out of that same reason why we started the organization.
• 7:38
  We hosted this one retreat, hundreds of people were like, we want to go on the next ones.
• 7:42
  And lo and behold, we did 11 retreats and still had hundreds on the wait list for more retreats. And so we're like, okay, what if we rent out a summer camp, 500 people, we'll Ha ha.
• 7:52
  for sure be able to accommodate everyone.
• 7:54
  And then that first one in 2019 sold out in two weeks.
• 7:57
  So yeah, it's been amazing. So amazing.
• 8:00
  Like this community has been such an important piece of my own healing.
• 8:04
  And at the same time, it's been a wild ride of just like trying to keep up with the demand and create a community that, is so needed for so many people.
• 8:12
  And it's a responsibility we definitely don't take lightly, It's been an honor for sure.
• 8:16
  And it's changed my life so much too, going to Camp Breastie this year.
• 8:19
  I was literally just talking to one of my passion fruits last night.
• 8:22
  We just have this WhatsApp group that's turned into this conversation of love where anyone can just write anything that they're feeling at the time and know that someone will respond and be supportive and they know you're going through. So thank you for building this community for for me.
• 8:38
  Thank you. Well, not for me, but thank you for letting me be the part again.
• 8:40
  It was for you. It was for you. No, Be a part of it.
• 8:43
  that's so special. I mean, that's the exact reason why we built it.
• 8:47
  You know, at the time when I was diagnosed in 2017, There were a ton of breast cancer nonprofits doing great work, but...
• 8:54
  the support spaces that existed, they were happening in the basements of hospitals and social work departments and dark rooms and no one wanted to be there.
• 9:03
  And don't get me wrong, you don't wanna be in any cancer support space, but if you have to be there, why not do it at a place like camp where it's beautiful and you're surrounded by fun programs and meaningful information and things that you deserve? We always say like, some support spaces, the ones we went to, they gave you Chex Mix on a Styrofoam plate.
• 9:23
  Like that was, that was the It's like Firefest, yeah.
• 9:25
  gift. That was the bribery to come to the support group.
• 9:29
  Like we have Chex Mix and we're like, my God, like if anyone deserves more than that, it's this community. Like you've been through It's us.
• 9:35
  cancer, you deserve a good swag bag, you deserve the best food trucks.
• 9:39
  Like Chex Mix on a Styrofoam plate, no, we won't tolerate that. So we always try to create experiences that are a little bit more enjoyable and memorable.
• 9:48
  And let me just say the swag bag at Camp Breastie is not to be missed.
• 9:52
  When I came in, I think I was one of the first people in my bunk.
• 9:54
  I was like, my gosh, like this is insane.
• 9:58
  So many amazing products. Estas, I love Estas so much.
• 10:01
  they're the best.
• 10:02
  Just so much incredible stuff in that bag.
• 10:04
  So thank you for making everyone feel so welcomed my gosh.
• 10:06
  and feel like they're at home.
• 10:08
  It's so fun and we have so many amazing partners that make those swag bags You were just married and then you're diagnosed and you go through this When you were diagnosed, were there thoughts about what's going to happen with fertility when I become a a mom?
• 11:02
  Will I be able to become a mom?
• 11:03
  What was going through your mind in that sense?
• 11:05
  Yeah, so it's funny because we met in high school, my husband and I, we were like never in a rush.
• 11:11
  We like always knew it was meant to be, but we were never in a rush. And so we also were like, OK, when we get married, we're not going to be in a rush to have kids.
• 11:17
  We're going to travel and enjoy marriage and blah, blah, blah. And of course, a couple of weeks after getting married, I get this cancer diagnosis. And one of the first things you have to do at least for me, it's a privilege.
• 11:28
  I was given information to preserve my fertility and it was like right away like, okay, embryos or eggs. Like, what do you wanna do?
• 11:35
  Do you wanna have a family? When do you wanna?
• 11:36
  And it was just so overwhelming and I always knew I wanted to be a mom.
• 11:41
  It's something that like I always saw for myself.
• 11:44
  I always wanted to have a family and so it was devastating to hear that, the chemo that you're about to go through, you know, it's important, it's gonna save your life.
• 11:53
  However, it might ruin your chances of becoming a mom one day and so.
• 11:58
  I feel so lucky that I was given information to go through fertility as the first step before starting chemo.
• 12:04
  I now have two kids post cancer.
• 12:07
  I have a three and a five year old I was able to get pregnant about three years after being cancer free. My team was comfortable with me starting the process Unfortunately, the IVF round we did pre-cancer or Pre-chemo, I had cancer, but pre-chemo, those embryos just had my genetic variant.
• 12:26
  I have the BRCA1 genetic variant and we were able to do PGT testing the embryos to see if they had that variant.
• 12:33
  So anyway, the embryos just weren't healthy and we weren't able to do that.
• 12:37
  So I had to go through it again, but it was successful. I have two kids because of that.
• 12:41
  Thank you, science. ~ And yeah, survivorship is so layered.
• 12:45
  When you're going through a cancer diagnosis, cancer treatment, as you know, it's just, your team is so focused on making sure you you live to be cancer free your quality of life is better, whatever that looks like for you.
• 12:57
  ~ there's so many like medical consequences of cancer treatment that not always warned about or you're not always prepared for and...
• 13:08
  There's a lot that goes into like family planning, pregnancy, feeding your baby that, you know, the cancer experience affects all of that.
• 13:17
  And so I'm really passionate about having conversations about what that looks like for people impacted by cancer because yeah, it's definitely different, but I'm so grateful.
• 13:27
  I'm so grateful to be a mom and to be where I am right now.
• 13:31
  And that's so exciting that you have two kids.
• 13:33
  I love it so much. I'm trying to get pregnant now.
• 13:34
  Yeah.
• 13:35
  And I feel like we have a lot of similarities.
• 13:37
  I'm also a triple negative survivor.
• 13:39
  Yes.
• 13:39
  I also did ~ a round of IVF before chemo.
• 13:42
  It did not work out for me. So I think I'm almost reaching my three-year mark.
• 13:46
  So maybe that is a sign. We're both wearing red next time.
• 13:50
  I feel like I'll become pregnant.
• 13:50
  I'm sending you all the baby dust, all the baby dust. No, it's, ~ you know, in general, like fertility preservation, IVF process is such an emotional process.
• 14:02
  It's such a personal process. And then you add a layer of cancer on top of it and it's just, it's all consuming.
• 14:09
  It's a lot.
• 14:11
  I feel like going through it a second time, I had a whole different mentality and a whole different perspective.
• 14:18
  The first time it was just like, okay, I'm doing this because of cancer.
• 14:22
  The second time I was doing it because I wanted to do it and I wanted to build a family and I was like hoping for that so badly that it was a more pleasant experience for sure.
• 14:31
  Gives me so much hope. Thank you so much.
• 14:33
  Because the first one was really rough.
• 14:33
  Yeah. Yeah.
• 14:35
  Like, you know, you're about to start chemo, you're injecting yourself every day.
• 14:39
  It's just it's just a lot.
• 14:41
  You've been really open about something that I think does not get talked about enough, and that is not being able to breastfeed after a mastectomy. And I believe you were prescribed a breast pump after giving What did that moment say to you about how unprepared our healthcare system is for moms who have been through breast cancer or any preventative surgery?
• 14:59
  Well, I have so much time you got.
• 15:01
  I have so much to say on It's It's a lot. what I do have to say is that we very much live in like a breast is best society, right? Breastfeeding is the gold standard for infant nutrition.
• 15:15
  However, when you have a mastectomy, you don't have breasts, right?
• 15:20
  You don't have the option to lactate.
• 15:22
  You can't breastfeed. So you have to figure out an alternative to feed your baby.
• 15:27
  And I think about my experience with decision making with my medical team my whole cancer diagnosis. And it's so wild looking back how breastfeeding was intertwined into the conversation.
• 15:41
  So I think back to my meetings with my breast surgeon to figure out what type of surgery I was gonna get. And I had triple negative breast cancer.
• 15:50
  was stage two B, a pretty large tumor, an aggressive tumor.
• 15:54
  I had the BRCA1 genetic variant.
• 15:56
  It was very clear that a mastectomy was the best route for me.
• 15:59
  However, in conversations with my team, it was still a point to say, hey, you're not gonna be able to breastfeed.
• 16:08
  I really want you to think about that when making this decision.
• 16:10
  I felt so much shame that like my team was kind of prioritizing this like function of my breast over my own health.
• 16:18
  And I'm like, why are we talking about...
• 16:20
  hypothetical children that don't exist.
• 16:22
  If I do come out on the other side, am I even gonna be able to have a baby?
• 16:26
  Like, okay, and then if I do, am I even gonna be able to breastfeed?
• 16:30
  Like that doesn't always work as planned.
• 16:32
  So why is this even part of the conversation?
• 16:34
  And fast forward, able to get pregnant, so excited and would go to my appointments with my team and...
• 16:42
  you know, they would ask, even though it says breast cancer survivor in my chart, it says I had a mastectomy, they would ask about, have you met with a lactation consultant yet?
• 16:50
  Have you, you my gosh.
• 16:51
  know, gone to this breastfeeding 101 class that the hospital's offering?
• 16:56
  Have you gone to your insurance with this prescription here for your breast pump?
• 17:00
  And one of my Breasties says it so perfectly.
• 17:02
  When you're handed a prescription for a breast pump or handed a breast pump, when you don't have breasts, it's like being given a phone charger.
• 17:09
  when you have no phone. Like there's nothing I can do with this.
• 17:13
  And you know, the Affordable Care Act, it's amazing that they're able to provide breast pumps for people who have babies.
• 17:20
  Like that is a win for breastfeeding families.
• 17:23
  However, there's no equivalent support for people who can't breastfeed when it's not their choice. I was given no information about formula.
• 17:32
  I was given no information about donor milk, no education about...
• 17:35
  how to make a bottle or how much water to put with formula.
• 17:38
  It's just like, here's this breast pump.
• 17:41
  you can't use it? Too bad, we don't know what to do with you.
• 17:44
  it's sad because ~ when you go through cancer and you're not sure if you're gonna be a mom one day and it's something you so badly want, and then finally you're in this position where you never thought you would be, I was healthy, was cancer free, I was pregnant, I was so grateful, but then I was also like, filled with so much shame that I couldn't feed my baby in the way the world tells you you should.
• 18:06
  it's terrible.
• 18:10
  It's a terrible feeling. I was so worried.
• 18:12
  Will I be able to bond with my children?
• 18:14
  What is that skin-to-skin experience going to be like?
• 18:19
  Am I a good mom? And looking back, like, ugh, I wish I could just talk to myself and be like, no, none of that will matter.
• 18:28
  you can bond with your baby in so many different ways.
• 18:30
  You can still do skin to skin when you don't have sensation.
• 18:34
  You can still do skin to skin when you're not breastfeeding.
• 18:36
  Bottle feeding is a beautiful experience as well.
• 18:41
  super passionate about just this conversation because it's another thing I wasn't prepared for. And feeding your baby after...
• 18:51
  cancer shouldn't be a luxury. It should be part of healthcare.
• 18:54
  should be part of like the information you're given, but nobody prepares you for it and nobody gives you that information.
• 19:00
  And so I want to be a part of that to give it to people and And thank you. And you are.
• 19:05
  Can you tell us about your partnership with Bobbie?
• 19:07
  Yes, so when I was pregnant with my son in like 2020, 2021, I was on social media and I saw that this infant formula company I had never heard of, Bobbie, they didn't even have products on shelves at the time.
• 19:22
  They were very, very new, but they were sharing the story of a Breastie Meghan Koziel. I think she was on our first retreat ever actually, and she was pregnant and...
• 19:31
  she was given that prescription for a breast pump and she was like, I can't use this, so let me call my insurance company and see if they'll cover formula. Like that's common sense that they'll do that, right? If they're gonna cover something, maybe they'll cover something I could use.
• 19:44
  And so she posted on social media about her experience calling her insurance company, being put on hold.
• 19:50
  She had like a million stories up of her on the phone getting denied.
• 19:53
  Nobody would help her.
• 19:55
  And so Bobbie was sharing this story and I was like, ooh, like this is something that's important to me.
• 20:00
  It's also something that's important to this community.
• 20:02
  I'm sure there are so many people like Meghan, like myself who are going through this.
• 20:06
  If Bobbie cares about Meghan, maybe they care about our community.
• 20:09
  Maybe we could formalize a partnership.
• 20:11
  I was like, let me just shoot my shot.
• 20:12
  So I sent them a DM and right away they wrote back and they were like, yeah, this is BS. Like, let's change the law.
• 20:20
  Like, let's change the law together.
• 20:22
  And we got on a call.
• 20:23
  And they're like, hey, we don't even have product on shelf yet, but we're gonna help as many moms as we can.
• 20:28
  We'll help five moms. This year, we're gonna give five moms a year's worth of formula, which formula is really expensive.
• 20:34
  You could spend hundreds of dollars a month on formula.
• 20:36
  And if you need it from day one, that's times 12, right? So they were able to sponsor five moms and that was amazing.
• 20:43
  And our partnership has grown we've been working together for nearly six years.
• 20:48
  We're actually about to open our seventh cohort.
• 20:50
  of Bobbie Breasties, but since then we've been able to sponsor a year's worth of formula for, so far it's been 615 families with a new cohort opening this This past cohort was 191 families and each one of those families received a full year of Bobbie formula through our program.
• 21:07
  And then in addition, we've been ~ creating community for parents impacted by cancer because it's a niche subgroup within the larger Breasties community.
• 21:18
  And then ~ the most important thing that we're doing right now is our advocacy You know, this is a problem that affects people impacted by breast cancer, people impacted by gynecologic cancer, people impacted by other cancers, but we've realized that this problem is bigger.
• 21:31
  Like, there's a lot of reasons why you might not be able to breastfeed due to medical circumstance. You know, chronic diseases such as lupus, postpartum mental health issues, medications that, you know, have contraindications where breastfeeding is deemed unsafe.
• 21:46
  And so we realized that this problem is so big and, you know, Bobbie's committed, The Breasties are committed to supporting as many families as we can, but we can't solve this problem with one program.
• 21:56
  So we figured, you know, the next best step is to create a policy that will these families. And so we've been working very hard for a couple of years, but this past May we introduced a bill, it's H.R. 9007, called Connie's Bill.
• 22:09
  It's named after a Breastie. One of the first Bobbie Breasties, Constance McDaniel. Unfortunately, she passed away last year from I'm so sorry.
• 22:18
  metastatic breast cancer. And she was a mom, a veteran, amazing, amazing human, incredible advocate. And this bill is named in her honor.
• 22:26
  And essentially, what this bill will do is it will be a pilot program that will support families impacted by cancer, other chronic diseases, other reasons why breastfeeding is not an option due to medical necessity and it will cover them with some formula, donor milk, ~ other options to feed their baby.
• 22:45
  And so we introduced it in May with some bipartisan support and yeah, it's been amazing. It's definitely one of the most proud moments of my Breasties career, of my career period.
• 22:59
  And yeah, we still have a lot of work to do.
• 23:01
  We're looking to get additional co-sponsors for the bill and hopefully get the bill passed so it can support families.
• 23:07
  Yes.
• 23:09
  It's got amazing coverage. We've had incredible meetings with lawmakers who've had great responses to the program.
• 23:16
  It very much seems like this is an oversight and it wasn't intentional.
• 23:21
  Like nobody meant to leave out people impacted by cancer and other chronic Yeah.
• 23:25
  diseases. They just thought, okay, this breast pump is a win. Not realizing that it's not something that every family could use.
• 23:32
  And so when we meet with lawmakers so far, the response has been super positive to be like, ooh, that's an oversight. This is a common sense solution.
• 23:39
  Let's work together to put it into practice.
• 23:42
  So fingers crossed. It takes a while for this stuff to happen.
• 23:46
  But we're getting there. We're getting there.
• 23:50
  And we're about to open our next cohort.
• 23:52
  Applications for the next group of Bobbie Breasties will open in the beginning of October.
• 23:57
  is so exciting and i'm just so impressed by you like you when we talked in the beginning you were talking about finding this community and you built The Breasties and then there was breast pump that you were given and you are fighting for us so thank you I'm just like my gosh.
• 24:10
  so blown away by you Thank you. I appreciate that. It's funny because I feel like when I first was diagnosed and like saw other breast cancer advocates or, you know, just cancer advocates in general, I was like, that's not me. I know nothing about advocacy.
• 24:27
  I know nothing about like how a bill becomes a law besides like schoolhouse what they teach you in like third grade.
• 24:32
  I gonna say I'm just the bill Yeah, exactly. That's all I know.
• 24:36
  That's all I know. And still to this day, yes, I've learned a lot. Don't get me wrong.
• 24:39
  But like high level, that's what I know.
• 24:41
  And it doesn't matter. Like being an advocate is so much more than that.
• 24:46
  Like if you have lived experience, like you are an advocate. If you share your story, you are an advocate. Like you are an expert in what you've been through.
• 24:54
  So much of the advocacy work is just sharing your story, sharing why it matters and what the problem is and like why it's important to you will be enough You know, it's It's been pretty cool to see how like doesn't matter if all you know a schoolhouse rock you still can Yeah.
• 25:12
  make a difference there.
• 25:14
  So~ as we wrap up, I would just love if you have anything you'd like to say for someone who is just diagnosed in their twenties that doesn't know what the rest of their future will have in store.
• 25:26
  Maybe they might want to be a mom, maybe they don't, but any words of wisdom you could share for someone who is newly diagnosed at such a young age.
• 25:33
  Yeah, I'm trying to think of what I would have liked to hear.
• 25:36
  It's so hard because when you're going through it, especially in the beginning stages and like there's no plan, your mind's racing and you're just so scared.
• 25:44
  And honestly, that's the scariest time, that like unknown period where you don't know what's gonna happen.
• 25:50
  But I think what would have helped me when I was newly diagnosed was just seeing other people on the other side, whatever that looked like, finishing treatment number one, chemo number one, and just seeing that, okay, they got through that step, or getting through their surgery, seeing, okay, they got through that step, and I can too, and just knowing that other people are going through having that sense of community is so important.
• 26:15
  I think I said this before, I didn't realize I needed community, but I needed community so bad.
• 26:19
  I needed other people so bad to just show me that like, it was going to be okay. And if they could get through it, I could get through it too. So yeah, you're just not alone. And there's other people out here that want to support you, want to be there for you. think that's what's so special about the Bressees community is that, of course, people join it because they're looking for information or friendship or looking to receive something, but the unique part of being part of this community is that you also want to give back and you also want to help others.
• 26:48
  So yeah, there's so many people that want to help you.
• 26:50
  love that. Thank you.
• 26:51
  this has been so lovely. You're such a good interviewer.
• 26:53
  Thank you so much. my god, thank you. I'm still so getting used to it.
• 26:57
  No, it's awesome.
• 26:59
  ~ can you tell us where we can find you on Instagram and The Breasties on Instagram?
• 27:04
  I'm on Instagram. What's my name?
• 27:05
  I think it's @alliebrumel I think it's just my name.
• 27:07
  If it's not, you can find me through The Breasties,@the_breasties or ww... my God.
• 27:13
  I can't believe I just said that.
• 27:14
  OK, my team always makes fun of me because every time we do an interview and they're like, where can you find The Breasties?
• 27:19
  I say WWW. You don't W W.
• 27:22
  need the WWW. It's not 1999, just thebreasties.org.
• 27:28
  I love it. Allie thank you so much for being here.
• 27:30
  Thank you for the work that you do every day.
• 27:32
  Thank you for The Breasties.
• 27:34
  Thank you. And thank you for everything you're doing.
• 27:36
  I'm so excited that we have collaborations together and yeah, hope to keep continuing our partnership.
• 27:41
  You're the best.
• 27:42
  You're the best. Thank you so much.
• 27:44
  if you're still here, thank you for listening and we'll see you next time.
• 27:46
  Thanks everyone.
• 27:47
  Bye.